African family eats French prez's camel

'It was a present that did not deserve this fate'

Published: 04/11/2013 at 1:31 AM

(ABC News) The president of France will soon get a “bigger and better-looking” camel after an apparent misunderstanding led to a West African family eating the original camel that was given to him as a gift.

Authorities in Mali say they will now send the replacement camel to France for safe keeping after the faux pas was discovered last week. The family of farmers in northern Mali whom President Francois Hollande asked to care for his young camel slaughtered the animal to make stew.

An unnamed government official in northern Mali told Reuters, “We are ashamed of what happened to the camel. It was a present that did not deserve this fate.”